Nov. 12 column: Heisman winners don’t come from losing teams

Thursday

Nov 12, 2009 at 12:01 AMNov 30, 2009 at 9:37 AM

By Cecil Hurt

If I had to turn in a Heisman Trophy ballot today, I would vote for University of Alabama running back Mark Ingram. Let’s get that straight from the outset.But I am curious, with Saturday’s Alabama-Mississippi State game approaching, about just how impressed I will be with Bulldog tailback Anthony Dixon. He’s a powerful, physical specimen. He’s barely different from Ingram statistically against a schedule that has been, to be honest about it, tougher. All five of MSU’s losses have come against Top 25 opposition.In the easiest game on the Bulldogs’ schedule, an opener against a Jackson State team that Dixon might have chewed up for 500 yards if he wanted, Dixon didn’t play. He’s had a 100-yard game against every MSU opponent since then, with the exception of Florida and Auburn (and he was just returning to form and had 92 yards in that game). He just shredded Kentucky for an amazing 252 yards.But if I even hinted that I might have Dixon somewhere on my Heisman Trophy ballot, most experts — self-proclaimed and otherwise — would chuckle. Yes, I think Ingram is better, but the really pronounced difference in the two is that Ingram plays for a team that might compete for the Bowl Championship Series title while Dixon plays for a club that will be fortunate to finish 6-6. Every game Ingram plays in at Alabama is either nationally televised or microscopically scrutinized by ESPN in highlights. Dixon will be getting his best exposure of the year Saturday. Why? Because his team is playing against Alabama, that’s why.So it is a point to ponder. The Heisman Trophy criteria to which we voters are expected to adhere are as follows: the voter should choose “the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance and hard work.”That’s actually a more abstract description than just “best player.” And, of course, it is one that is really impossible to apply. Obviously, O.J. Simpson was the best player in college football in 1968, and who knew if he had integrity or not?But the point is, isn’t it just possible, in a team sport like football, for the most outstanding individual player to be trapped on a team that, for whatever reason, isn’t that good?There has been one winner on a losing team in the long history of the Heisman — Paul Hornung — and even he would not have gotten the award if that “losing team” had not been named Notre Dame. I understand that the general demographics of recruiting tend to place the best prospects on the best teams and that there is a mathematical likelihood that top-10 teams have a better shot at having the “best player” for that reason. I understand that the presence of the “best player” should elevate a team’s record. But isn’t it possible that, rarely but occasionally, the best player simply isn’t surrounded by equally talented teammates?Of course it’s possible. But that will never be reflected in the Heisman Trophy results, barring a statistical season with such unimaginable numbers that voters are simply forced to turn their attention away from the top of the polls and look elsewhere. (Barry Sanders and Andre Ware leap to mind, although Sanders won it in 1988 when Oklahoma State went 10-2 and finished No. 11 in the country and Ware, the 1989 winner, helped Houston go 9-2 and finish at No. 14.)The fact is, the modern Heisman Trophy tends to go to the (perceived) Most Valuable Player on the (perceived) best team, or close to it. That is also why it is particularly maddening to be required to vote before the BCS Championship Game, the final crucible, is played.Like most other voters, I will probably wind up with some combination of Ingram, Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy on my ballot — although if Dixon runs for 200 yards on Saturday, I might change my mind. The chances of that happening against the Alabama defense are, I admit, minimal — but not as minimal as the chances of a Heisman winner ever coming from a 6-6 team again.

Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0225.

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